Article display and support



=Ma 19,1970 TERN 23,512,287

' ARTICLE DISPLAY AND suPro 1 Filed July 31. 19s? 24 nvvszv TOR MA RX 5TERN A 7' TOR/VEYS.

United States Patent US. Cl. 40-124 11 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSUREA display for articles having a discrete body portion and flexiblesupport for the body portion, the display comprising a member havinggenerally flat planar anchor and display panels, anchor means on theanchor panel, clearance openings on the display panel at pointscorresponding to the anchor means, and further anchor means on thedisplay panel, so that the flexible supports of selected articles may besecured to the anchor means and strung through the clearance openings,and the supports of other articles secured to further anchor means. Witharticles having flexible supports of about equal length, the bodyportions are thus disposed on the display panel in staggered relation toform vertically spaced horizontal rows on the display panel.

This invention relates to an article display and support, and moreparticularly, to article display and supports for articles having adiscrete body portion and an elongated flexible support for the bodyportion.

It is well recognized in the retail sales field that the manner in whicha salable item is presented to the potential customer has a substantialeffect on his decision whether or not to buy. Accordingly, it is of theutmost importance that merchandise be presented in its most favorablelight. This is especially true of items which are not strictly speakingnecessities, but rather have their value in adding to their userscomfort or convenience. Such an item is the luggage tag made and sold byAluminum Development Corporation of Pelham Manor, New York, which formsthe subject matter of US. Pat. 3,318,030, issued May 9, 1967.

The luggage tag disclosed in the above-set forth US. patent includes adiscrete body portion upon which the name and address of the owner maybe placed, and a flexible support strap, by which the body portion issecured to the luggage. It has been found that an attractive counter-topdisplay for such tags or similarly configured articles can be had byarranging the body portions in spaced horizontal rows, with adjacentbody portions being staggered between the rows.

The present invention is directed to a novel means whereby such adisplay may be provided. One aspect of the invention is a displaysupport of sheet material to which articles may be readily secured toform the desired display. Another aspect of the invention is the novelcooperative relationship between the support and articles to bedisplayed. Thus, the support comprises an anchor panel and a displaypanel, and certain of the articles to be displayed have their straps orother flexible supports passing through clearance openings in thedisplay panel for securement to anchor means on the anchor panel, whileothers have their straps seoured to further anchor means on the displaypanel. It should be understood that the articles to be displayed willgenerally have straps of equal length, or at least, adjustable to equallength. Hence, the body portions of each of the articles secured to theanchor panel will hang in a given horizontal row, and the body portionsof the articles secured to the display panel in another horizontal row.

3,512,287 Patented May 19, 1970 For the purpose of illustrating theinvention, there is shown in the drawings a form which is presentlypreferred; it being understood, however, that this invention is notlimited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown.

FIG. 1 is a pictorial view showing a display in accordance with thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is the rear elevational view showing the anchor means on theanchor panel of the present display support.

FIG. 3 is a transverse cross-sectional view taken along the line 33 inFIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a transverse cross-sectional view taken along the line 44 inFIG. 1.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, wherein like numerals indicatelike elements, there is seen in FIG. 1 a display designated generally bythe reference numeral 10. The display 10 comprises a display support,designated generally by the reference numeral 12, and articles 14,disposed on the support for display. The display support 12 may beconstructed of a single piece of rigid sheet material such as, but notlimited to, aluminum, and includes a pair of generally flat elongatedpanels 16 and 18. The panel 16 may hereinafter be referred to as theanchor panel, and the panel 18 may be referred to as the display panel.The anchor panel 16 and display panel 18 may, if so desired, be disposedgenerally at right angles to each other, as is seen in FIGS. 3 and 4. Itshould be apparent that distal edges of the panels 16 and 18 are adaptedto rest upon a planar surface 20, which may be a countertop, forexample. Foot portions 22 and 24 may be provided at the respectivedistal edges of the anchor panel 16 and display panel 18 to provide flatsurfaces for contact with the planar surface 20.

Referring now to FIG. 2, anchor means 26 are disposed on the anchorpanel 16. The number of anchor means 26 on the anchor panel 16 is amatter of choice. The particular anchor means shown in FIG. 2 takes theform of a bar 28 integral with the panel 16, defined by struck outperforations 30. Other forms of anchor means can be provided. As isevident from FIG. 2, the anchor means are at horizontally spaced pointson the anchor panel 16 and may be in horizontal alignment.

Referring again to FIG. 1, clearance openings 32 are provided in thedisplay panel 18. The positions of the clearance openings 32 on thedisplay panel 18 correspond to the locations of anchor means 26 on theanchor panel 16 for reasons which will now be made apparent. Thus, theclearance openings 32 are at horizontally spaced points on the displaypanel 18 and may be in horizontal alignment as shown.

Referring to FIG. 4, the manner in which articles 14 may be disposed onthe display support 12 is shown. The articles 14, for the purpose ofillustration, are luggage tags of the type disclosed in US. Pat.3,318,030, and comprise a discrete indicia bearing body portion 34 andan elongated flexible support means 36. For the purpose of illustration,the support means 36 is shown in the form of a strap, having aconventional releasable buckle 38 thereon. 'The flexible support means36 could well take other alternative forms. For example, the supportmeans 36 could be a beaded chain. The support means 36 passes throughthe clearance opening 32 and perforations 30 to form a continuous loopabout the bar 28, and also forms a loop passing through an opening 40 inthe body portion 34. The free end, if any, of the support means 36, maybe secured by means of the buckle 38, and tucked into the clearanceopening. The body portion 34 rests on and is disposed generally parallelto the display panel 18.

Each of the articles 14 whose support means 36 is secured to anchormeans 26 on the anchor panel 16 is preferably disposed in horizontalalignment with other articles thus supported. This may be accomplishedby providing the articles with support means of equal lengths oradjustable to provide equal effective lengths.

The display panel 18 is provided with anchor means 42 similar in allrespects to the above described anchor means 26. The individual anchormeans 42 are preferably horizontally aligned With the clearance openings32, and in a preferred embodiment, are disposed alternately with theclearance openings 32. Thus, articles 14 may be secured to the anchormeans 42 on the display panel 12. Referring to FIG. 3, the manner inwhich articles 14 are secured to anchor means 42 is apparent. The bodyportions 3-4 of the articles secured to anchor means 42 rest on thedisplay panel 18. As is evident from FIG. 1, the length of the supportmeans 36 is such that the articles 14 secured to the anchor means 42hang downwardly in positions vertically spaced from the positions of thearticles coupled to the anchor means 26. Equal effective lengths for thesupport means 36 of the former articles permit their respective bodyportions to hang in horizontal alignment across the face of the displaypanel 18. Accordingly, in a preferred form of the novel display, thebody portions 34 of adjacent articles 14 are in vertically andhorizontally spaced and staggered relation, thereby forming aneye-catching and attractive display. The body portions of adjacentarticles may be provided with individual indicia to form a Wordidentifying the displayed goods or their source. Also, the individualarticles may be dissimilar from each other in color, to thereby displaysome or all of the variants of the articles available to the purchaser.

Although the display support of the invention has been disclosed inconnection with the inventors luggage tags, the invention may bepracticed with other similarly configured articles. For example, wristwatches have discrete body portions and flexible sup-port means, and cantherefore be readily displayed in the disclosed manner. Also, items ofjewelry such as lockets, pendants or the like could be so displayed.

The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms withoutdeparting from the spirit or essential attributes thereof and,accordingly, reference should be made to the appended claims, ratherthan to the foregoing specification as indicating the scope of theinvention.

I claim:

1. A display support for articles having a discrete body portion and anelongated flexible support for said body portion, comprising a pair ofgenerally flat elongated rigid panels, said panels being fixedlyangularly disposed with respect to each other, one of said panels beinga display panel and the other being an anchor panel, anchor means onsaid anchor panel, a clearance opening on said display panel at a pointcorresponding to the location of said anchor means on said anchor panel,whereby the flexible support of the article to be displayed may extendthrough said clearance opening for securement to said anchor means, andfurther anchor means on said display panel spaced from said clearanceopening for supporting a further object to be displayed.

2. A display support in accordance with claim 1 wherein a plurality ofanchor means are disposed on said anchor panel at spaced points thereon,and a plurality of clearance openings are disposed on said display panelat points corresponding to the locations of said anchor means, andwherein a plurality of further anchor means are disposed on said displaypanel.

3. A display support in accordance with claim 2 wherein said panels aredisposed generally at right angles to each other, said panels includingsurface engaging por- 4 tions at distal edges thereof adapted to contacta planar surface.

4. A display support in accordance with claim 2 wherein said anchormeans on said anchor panel are disposed at horizontally spaced pointsalong said panel, said clearance openings being disposed atcorresponding horizontally spaced points on said display panel, and saidfurther anchor means being disposed in horizontally spaced relation tosaid clearance openings.

5. A display support in accordance with claim 4 wherein said anchormeans are disposed in horizontal alignment on said anchor panel, andsaid clearance openings and further anchor means are disposed inhorizontal alignment on said display panel.

6. A display support in accordance with claim 5 wherein said furtheranchor means and said clearance openings are alternately positioned onsaid display panel.

7. A display support in accordance with claim 1, and a plurality ofarticles to be displayed, each of said articles comprising a discretebody portion and an elongated flexible support means coupled to saidbody portion, said elongated flexible support means of one of saidarticles being coupled to said anchor means and extending through saidclearance opening so that the body portion of said article is retainedby said flexible support means at a position on said display paneladjacent said clearance opening, and the flexible support means ofanother of said articles being coupled to said further anchor means sothat the body portion of said article is retained by said flexiblesupport means at a position on said display panel remote from saidfurther anchor means.

.8. A display support in accordance with claim 6, and a plurality ofarticles to be displayed, each of said articles comprising a discretebody portion and an elongated flexible support means coupled to saidbody portion, said elongated flexible support means of selected articlesbeing coupled tosaid anchor means and extending through said clearanceopenings so that the body portions of said selected articles areretained by said flexible support means at horizontally spaced positionson said display panel, and the flexible support means of others of saidarticles being coupled to said further anchor means so that the bodyportions of said other articles are retained by said flexible supportmeans at horizontally spaced positions on said display panel.

9. A display support in accordance with claim 8, wherein said flexiblesupport means of said articles are of generally equal length so that thebody portions of said articles are staggered to form vertically spacedhorizontal rows on said display panel.

10. A display support in accordance with claim 9 wherein adjacentarticles include message conveying indicia.

11. A display support in accordance with claim 3, wherein said supportis made of rigid metallic sheet material.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 261,237 7/1882 Kenney 206791,284,407 11/1918 Marzahl 20679 1,407,792 2/ 1922 Hatzung 20679 EUGENER. CAPOZIO, Primary Examiner W. J. CONTRERAS, Assistant Examiner US. Cl.X.R. 20679

